My Personal Independence Day
(Thanks to Oskie for our pahiyas family photo :)
One year ago, I wrote a blog post about the Summer of Love 2008, which is a personal reflection about my OAP passion, losing weight and quitting my day job. Independence Day for me then is about pursuing my passion while I am still in my prime. I would love to continue that annual tradition of reflecting on what Independence Day really means for me.
1. Work Independently vs. Work from Home
It is cool to Work From Home. But I realize it is not really the idea of physical "working from home" that is great but the idea of "working for yourself (with no boss)".
If you are starting a young family, working from home is a nightmare once your kids wake up. I had to adjust my working schedule to the hours between my 4am wake-up time to the boys' wake-up time at 8am. This period is also my most productive time when I write blog posts, content for my Maven Program and do my own personal reflection.
On that note, it's an honor to be featured as a Work From Home Entrepreneur (April issue).
2. Free from Junk Food and Sweet Cravings
Finally, I think the Real Time Physique Transformation Program (RTP) by Adam Waters is working for me. I tried a lot of weight loss programs, including running for my First Marathon in 2007, Rogin-E Weight Loss Competition in 2008 and Blood Sugar Diary in 2009. I'm on the first week of the RTP program and I'm down to 210lbs, on my way to reaching my best weight yet at 180lbs.
What is the RTP program? It is one of the most advanced weight loss programs, which focuses on mindset training, nutrition training from Tom Venuto (the leading guru on weight loss) and physical training from Carlos de Jesus. What makes it different is the use of a daily picture and blog post as a means of personal accountability. I'll share with you the link to that blog after 30 days. :)
I'm now starting to free myself from junk food and desserts!
3. Ad-Free Our Awesome Planet?
I started to experiment on removing all my ads in OAP. It is a big portion of my passive income but I had to do it for three reasons:
First, my adsense image ads are being attacked by the "dark side" of the internet, where they would advertise "bad things" on OAP using targeted ad placements. The ads only appear for US OAP readers, so you won't see it if you are in the Philippines. A reader from Canada sent me a long email rant about it.
Second, the ads are slowing down the entire OAP site. After removing all the ads, OAP now averages around 4,500+ unique readers/day and 9,000+ hits per day on a weekday. The site loads in less than 10 seconds now, isn't that awesome?
Third, I want to control the ads shown in OAP because there are big companies that I don't support or recommend -- and I don't want to show their ads on my blog.
After the experiment, I'm thinking of going purely on Direct Ads. This addresses all the issues above. It allows me to be in control of who can advertise and, since the ads are loaded on the same server as the blog, the site loads faster. Email rache@diaz.ph if you want to place direct ads
Poll: What do you prefer Ad Free OAP or Minimal Ads via Direct Ads?
4. Free from the influence of TV
I don't watch TV anymore. More and more Filipinos are realizing that TV is being used to manipulate the minds of people, especially by the advertisers. Also, Filipinos are already tired of the negativity highlighted by local TV stations and how they exaggerate the news.
I focus on the things I can control and don't worry about things that I cannot. However, I make sure to do my own share by supporting worthy causes.
I am against Charter Change, especially since it is less than one year from the National Elections. The Generation X Filipinos have failed to change our country and I believe that it would take a generational intervention to uplift the Philippines. That is why I believe that we need to focus all our efforts on teaching "Generation Z" to be the best Filipinos they can be.
5. Help others achieve their personal freedom
I'm launching the Maven Secrets program this June. It aims to teach Filipino Professionals on how to become Professional Bloggers and how to leverage the Internet for marketing. I designed a comprehensive 90-day program to transform my clients from being Blogger Wannabes to Maven Bloggers (and ultimately quit their day job :) ). This program distills all my best learnings in my 4 years of Our Awesome Planet experience. Learning this career is easier than learning nursing for 2+ years.
Maven Secrets is now in collaboration with AIM's W. SyCip Graduate School of Business! All of the Maven Sessions will be held at AIM. You can pre-register by sending me an email at anton@diaz.ph.
It was an awesome year for Our Awesome Planet. A lot of people are already waiting for the Awesome Pilipinas: Food and Travel Adventures in the Philippines book. I was not able to focus on it and complete it last year. Watch out for it in December 2009!
Live an Awesome Life,
Text and Photos by Anton Diaz. Copyright 2009.
blog: www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
prof. blog: AntonDiaz.com
mobile: +63917-LOVEOAP (5683627)
email: anton@diaz.ph
